Is it President Trump who shared with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov the intelligence that ISIS was developing laptop bombs to put aboard airliners?

Or is it The Washington Post that ferreted out and published this code-word intelligence, and splashed the details on its front page, alerting the world, and ISIS, to what we knew.

President Trump has the authority to declassify security secrets. And in sharing that intel with the Russians, who have had airliners taken down by bombs, he was trying to restore a relationship.

On fighting Islamist terror, we and the Russians agree.

Five years ago, Russia alerted us that Tamerlan Tsarnaev had become a violent radical Islamist. That was a year and a half before Tsarnaev carried out the Boston Marathon bombing.

But upon what authority did The Washington Post reveal code-word intelligence secrets? Where in the Constitution or U.S. law did the Post get the right to reveal state secrets every U.S. citizen is duty bound to protect?

The source of this top secret laptop-bomb leak that the Post published had to be someone in the intel community who was violating an oath that he had sworn to protect U.S. secrets, and committing a felony by leaking that secret.

Those who leaked this to hurt Trump, and those who published this in the belief it would hurt Trump, sees themselves as the “Resistance” — like the French Resistance to Vichy in World War II.

And they seemingly see themselves as above the laws that bind the rest of us.

“Can Donald Trump Be Trusted With State Secrets?” asked the headline on the editorial in The New York Times.

One wonders: Are these people oblivious to their own past?

In 1971, The New York Times published a hoard of secret documents from the Kennedy-Johnson years on Vietnam. Editors spent months arranging them to convince the public it had been lied into a war that the Times itself had supported, but had turned against.

Purpose of publication: Damage and discredit the war effort, now that Richard Nixon was commander in chief. This was tantamount to treason in wartime.

When Nixon went to the Supreme Court to halt publication of the Pentagon Papers until we could review them to ensure that sources and methods were not being compromised, the White House was castigated for failing to understand the First Amendment.

And for colluding with the thieves that stole them, and for publishing the secret documents, the Times won a Pulitzer.

Forty years ago, the Post also won a Pulitzer — for Watergate.

The indispensable source of its stories was FBI Deputy Director Mark Felt, who repeatedly violated his oath and broke the law by leaking the contents of confidential FBI interviews and grand jury testimony.

ORDER IT NOW

Felt, “Deep Throat,” was a serial felon. He could have spent 10 years in a federal penitentiary had his identity been revealed. But to protect him from being prosecuted and sent to prison, and to protect themselves from the public knowing their scoops were handed to them by a corrupt FBI agent, the Post kept Felt’s identity secret for 30 years. Yet, their motto is “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”

Which brings us to the point.

The adversary press asserts in its actions a right to collude with and shelter disloyal and dishonorable officials who violate our laws by leaking secrets that they are sworn to protect.

Why do these officials become criminals, and why do the mainstream media protect them?

Because this seedy bargain is the best way to advance their common interests.

The media get the stolen goods to damage Trump. Anti-Trump officials get their egos massaged, their agendas advanced and their identities protected.

This is the corrupt bargain the Beltway press has on offer.

For the media, bringing down Trump is also good for business. TV ratings of anti-Trump media are soaring. The “failing New York Times” has seen a surge in circulation. The Pulitzers are beckoning.

And bringing down a president is exhilarating. As Ben Bradlee reportedly said during the Iran-Contra scandal that was wounding President Reagan, “We haven’t had this much fun since Watergate.”

When Nixon was brought down, North Vietnam launched a spring offensive that overran the South, and led to concentration camps and mass executions of our allies, South Vietnamese boat people perishing by the thousands in the South China Sea, and a holocaust in Cambodia.

When Trump gets home from his trip, he should direct Justice to establish an office inside the FBI to investigate all illegal leaks since his election and all security leaks that are de facto felonies, and name a special prosecutor to head up the investigation.

Then he should order that prosecutor to determine if any Trump associates, picked up by normal security surveillance, were unmasked, and had their names and conversations spread through the intel community, on the orders of Susan Rice and Barack Obama, to seed the bureaucracy to sabotage the Trump presidency before it began.

Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of a new book, “Nixon’s White House Wars: The Battles That Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever.”

If the Americans let the deep state bamboozle them into removing Trump, they don’t deserve to have not only a democracy, but a country as well. Who in their right mind would believe that Trump is in cahoots with the Russians? Maybe decades of (successful even if poorly constructed) propaganda has lowered the threshold of creativity needed in order for a lie to pass as truth, but this is going beyond the limits of tolerance. Not even a 5th grader would buy into this nonsense. The deep state is damaging the reputation of US in the world by trying to get away with such poorly constructed fabrications. This is an insult to all Americans. The deep state should be forced at least to come up with something more intelligent if they want to accomplish what they are aiming for – removal of Trump.

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When Trump gets home from his trip, he should direct Justice to establish an office inside the FBI to investigate all illegal leaks since his election and all security leaks that are de facto felonies, and name a special prosecutor to head up the investigation.

Then he should order that prosecutor to determine if any Trump associates, picked up by normal security surveillance, were unmasked, and had their names and conversations spread through the intel community, on the orders of Susan Rice and Barack Obama, to seed the bureaucracy to sabotage the Trump presidency before it began.

And now that it is becoming impossible to avoid the conclusion that Seth Rich was murdered for sharing over 44,000 DNC e-mails with Wikileaks (the leaks stopped when Rich died), should the office proposed by Mr Buchanan also investigate the strong possibility that the “Russian hacking” fake news story has been a deliberate, traitorous attempt to undermine a legitimately elected president of of the United States of America?

The conspiracy against a just elected US president by his predecessor, the Democratic Party, the so-called liberal media and large parts of the GOP is unprecedented in American history. The media prostitutes publish stories based on anonymous sources, and everybody takes them for the truth. On can call such report unfounded rumors. Nobody should take them seriously.
With the Russian spin, the so-called liberal establishment landed an unprecedented coup. It was made up by the Dems and the Obama in the background, to tie President Trump’s hand and bring him in the confrontation with the Russians. The US “Deep State” needs a bogeyman to enrich themselves by producing weapons.
One is surprised that the Trump Administration allows playing a cat-and-mouse game with it. They should crack down on the FBI internal structure and get after the leaks. Trump should be as merciless as Obama was with the whistleblowers. Perhaps he should be even harder because all of the people had top security clearance. That means, they committed a felony.

Like Pat said last week, Trump needs to start going on offense. If Trump thinks he can charm the deep state by not hitting back at them then he’s the wrong guy for the job.

But if and when Trump ever goes after Susan Rice and Hussein O then Mad Maxine WaWa, the DNC and the media predictably will accuse him of racism. But it wasn’t racist for two black government officials to illegally wiretap Trump and his associates or decrypt their communications.

“When Trump gets home from his trip, he should direct Justice to establish an office inside the FBI to investigate all illegal leaks since his election and all security leaks that are de facto felonies, and name a special prosecutor to head up the investigation.”

I get the impression he just doesn’t know he can do this. His advisors apparently do not either. He does not have a good understanding of the powers of his office, how to leverage it and thus cannot “execute”. He has not been able to identify “a move” that will neutralize at least some key enemies, make the others pause and give him some initiative. Buchanan’s advise sounds good, but there’s a window of opportunity for these things.

And I cannot forget the delay of the TV stations in calling the election on the night of nov 8, and how when he came out his words were “complicated business, folks”, and de facto exonerated Hillary Clinton. Some “understanding” was brokered there, and the measure of the man taken.

Buchanan has it right again. The whole special counsel thing is another deep state initiative to eliminate Trump, as are the continual leaks. I’m also afraid that the cynical manoevrings with the Saudis is, in large part, an effort by Trump to show he can be part of the imperialist team after all despite his earlier statements critical of Saudi-financed jihadi type thugs.

But this is a futile effort. The structure will never be satisfied until they have a pliable tool of their imperialist anti-Russian pro-Jihadi line running the show. Mike Whitney has accurately described this Rosenstein-Mueller effort in his most recent counterpunch piece (not here yet but probably to appear later today on Unz.)

The early comments on this are great. I agree with English Mike’s prescription of an office to link the disloyal activities of the leakers with facts necessary to prove the Seth Rich murder and its links to the wikileaks incident. I agree with the others who indicate that a stronger line must be taken with those who, in light of the indications of the Rich story which totally debunks the Russian conspiracy theory, that the situation here indicates that the power structure is engaged on full-on treason and sedition. The success of this treason would mean the final burial of the rule of law in the US and its replacement with an imperial system totally bent on absolute domination of everywhere even if the imposition of such a system requires nuclear armageddon.

Buchanan has it right again. The whole special counsel thing is another deep state initiative to eliminate Trump, as are the continual leaks. I'm also afraid that the cynical manoevrings with the Saudis is, in large part, an effort by Trump to show he can be part of the imperialist team after all despite his earlier statements critical of Saudi-financed jihadi type thugs.

But this is a futile effort. The structure will never be satisfied until they have a pliable tool of their imperialist anti-Russian pro-Jihadi line running the show. Mike Whitney has accurately described this Rosenstein-Mueller effort in his most recent counterpunch piece (not here yet but probably to appear later today on Unz.)

The early comments on this are great. I agree with English Mike's prescription of an office to link the disloyal activities of the leakers with facts necessary to prove the Seth Rich murder and its links to the wikileaks incident. I agree with the others who indicate that a stronger line must be taken with those who, in light of the indications of the Rich story which totally debunks the Russian conspiracy theory, that the situation here indicates that the power structure is engaged on full-on treason and sedition. The success of this treason would mean the final burial of the rule of law in the US and its replacement with an imperial system totally bent on absolute domination of everywhere even if the imposition of such a system requires nuclear armageddon.

full-on treason and sedition… the final burial of the rule of law in the US… its replacement with an imperial system totally bent on absolute domination of everywhere…

Out of context these descriptions could look like excitable hyperbole; but they seem to me entirely justified – unlike the fake outrage of the “Putin stole the election” nonsense.

Cyrano is also right: This is an insult to all Americans.

Realistically, I don’t know how Americans can confront this, but they must, because the stakes are as high as you say they are.

If nothing else, Americans could take inspiration from a great Russian, Alexander Solzhenitzin, quoting a great Russian proverb: “One word of truth shall outweigh the whole world.”

When Trump gets home from his trip, he should direct Justice to establish an office inside the FBI to investigate all illegal leaks since his election and all security leaks that are de facto felonies, and name a special prosecutor to head up the investigation.

Then he should order that prosecutor to determine if any Trump associates, picked up by normal security surveillance, were unmasked, and had their names and conversations spread through the intel community, on the orders of Susan Rice and Barack Obama, to seed the bureaucracy to sabotage the Trump presidency before it began.

And now that it is becoming impossible to avoid the conclusion that Seth Rich was murdered for sharing over 44,000 DNC e-mails with Wikileaks (the leaks stopped when Rich died), should the office proposed by Mr Buchanan also investigate the strong possibility that the "Russian hacking" fake news story has been a deliberate, traitorous attempt to undermine a legitimately elected president of of the United States of America?

Excuse my mishap with the formatting. The second paragraph was also from Mr Buchanan and should have been italicised.

What Trump told Lavrov had ALREADY been printed in US newspapers some months PRIOR….
The Russians can read _ they can even read English!
This is what Lavrov responded to question at a media conference:

LAVROV:
We read in your newspapers that the main accusations are centred on the following: allegedly, secrets were divulged regarding terrorists’ ability to put “undetectable” explosives into computers, laptops, iPads and so on.

If memory serves, maybe one or two months earlier, the Trump administration instituted a laptop ban for passengers from seven Middle Eastern countries, if I am not mistaken, which was directly connected to a terrorist threat.So if you are talking about that, I don’t see what the secret is.

Sorry Mr. Buchanan, I sometimes appreciate your contrarian opinions, but you don’t help your case by making some kind of martyr out of Nixon. Maybe he was also bound by laws and an oath of his own, and lying to his country to prolong a pointless, genocidal, and unwinnable war was not the way to go about it. If, two generations later, Republicans still cannot take responsibility for Nixon’s blatant criminality, that may explain much of the immaturity currently emanating from the White House.

Yes, Trump could go on the offensive vs the leakers. And/or, he could reach out to Bernie’s voters, who got shafted by their own party, and explain how the same thing would have happened to their guy if he’d won. Or, make some space in his cabinet for people who are not Wall-Street/Pentagon crooks. Or, you know, do *anything* else useful or tell the truth about *anything*.

The evidence is that his passion lies elsewhere. His team’s counterattack is focused on Wikileaks, immigrants, and Iran–parties without power in Washington. Trump’s always mostly just been a different faction of the establishment, and this holds double for the people who funded him. “Locking her up” would imply a big obligation to do better himself. With Barbie Trump already pocketing Saudi cash Hillary-style, it seems we can forget about that.

While I don't always agree with Buchanan on Nixon, I can remember his historical role as Nixon's adviser, and Nixon does not look as bad as he looked to me then based upon what has happened in the last 45 years. His failure was keeping the war going, but his Russian and Chinese policies were positive, and his domestic policy seems positively leftwing by modern standards. Unfortunately, Trump has not shown any gratitude towards wikileaks, perhaps as a result of the campaign against him. I think the Seth Rich story needs to be fully investigated, and, even if the Kim Dotcom story was phony, the Rich thing looks real if based only on the reaction to it by the power structure.

Sorry Mr. Buchanan, I sometimes appreciate your contrarian opinions, but you don't help your case by making some kind of martyr out of Nixon. Maybe he was also bound by laws and an oath of his own, and lying to his country to prolong a pointless, genocidal, and unwinnable war was not the way to go about it. If, two generations later, Republicans still cannot take responsibility for Nixon's blatant criminality, that may explain much of the immaturity currently emanating from the White House.

Yes, Trump could go on the offensive vs the leakers. And/or, he could reach out to Bernie's voters, who got shafted by their own party, and explain how the same thing would have happened to their guy if he'd won. Or, make some space in his cabinet for people who are not Wall-Street/Pentagon crooks. Or, you know, do *anything* else useful or tell the truth about *anything*.

The evidence is that his passion lies elsewhere. His team's counterattack is focused on Wikileaks, immigrants, and Iran--parties without power in Washington. Trump's always mostly just been a different faction of the establishment, and this holds double for the people who funded him. "Locking her up" would imply a big obligation to do better himself. With Barbie Trump already pocketing Saudi cash Hillary-style, it seems we can forget about that.

While I don’t always agree with Buchanan on Nixon, I can remember his historical role as Nixon’s adviser, and Nixon does not look as bad as he looked to me then based upon what has happened in the last 45 years. His failure was keeping the war going, but his Russian and Chinese policies were positive, and his domestic policy seems positively leftwing by modern standards. Unfortunately, Trump has not shown any gratitude towards wikileaks, perhaps as a result of the campaign against him. I think the Seth Rich story needs to be fully investigated, and, even if the Kim Dotcom story was phony, the Rich thing looks real if based only on the reaction to it by the power structure.

I don't see Nixon in black-and-white. Part of his sane domestic policies surely also was that the Democrats were a completely different party back then, and that Ralph Nader was moving things in the right direction. I don't have a partisan dog in this fight; if back then people occasionally cooperated on something useful, great. But RMN getting himself pardoned by his hand-picked successor blew up all semblance of accountability. If, indeed, much has gone downhill since then, then maybe the one helped cause the other? Smarter people than me predicted all this at the time of the Nixon pardon.

Yes I 've read this stuff is personal for Mr. Buchanan; wouldn't integrity require that he disclose that? But then again, partly because of that connection, Buchanan is "somebody" and this sordid history can be assumed to be well-known. So maybe we can let it pass.

Of course nobody expects "gratitude" towards Wikileaks, but why would it be needed? Getting some of the relevant people, especially Craig Murray, to testify would deflate Russiagate real quick. Again, all the evidence is that the Trump clan doesn't *want* to pass the microphone to Washington outsiders, and let the sheep know how the sausage is made. This goes for the Seth Rich case hundredfold: here we have an actual felony with a real body; apparently Trump knows better than to go anywhere near it, and step on powerful toes.

@Minnesota Mary: forget about Trump reading PJB's column. What's the last time Trump has, like, informed himself on *any* issue of import?

While I don't always agree with Buchanan on Nixon, I can remember his historical role as Nixon's adviser, and Nixon does not look as bad as he looked to me then based upon what has happened in the last 45 years. His failure was keeping the war going, but his Russian and Chinese policies were positive, and his domestic policy seems positively leftwing by modern standards. Unfortunately, Trump has not shown any gratitude towards wikileaks, perhaps as a result of the campaign against him. I think the Seth Rich story needs to be fully investigated, and, even if the Kim Dotcom story was phony, the Rich thing looks real if based only on the reaction to it by the power structure.

I don’t see Nixon in black-and-white. Part of his sane domestic policies surely also was that the Democrats were a completely different party back then, and that Ralph Nader was moving things in the right direction. I don’t have a partisan dog in this fight; if back then people occasionally cooperated on something useful, great. But RMN getting himself pardoned by his hand-picked successor blew up all semblance of accountability. If, indeed, much has gone downhill since then, then maybe the one helped cause the other? Smarter people than me predicted all this at the time of the Nixon pardon.

Yes I ‘ve read this stuff is personal for Mr. Buchanan; wouldn’t integrity require that he disclose that? But then again, partly because of that connection, Buchanan is “somebody” and this sordid history can be assumed to be well-known. So maybe we can let it pass.

Of course nobody expects “gratitude” towards Wikileaks, but why would it be needed? Getting some of the relevant people, especially Craig Murray, to testify would deflate Russiagate real quick. Again, all the evidence is that the Trump clan doesn’t *want* to pass the microphone to Washington outsiders, and let the sheep know how the sausage is made. This goes for the Seth Rich case hundredfold: here we have an actual felony with a real body; apparently Trump knows better than to go anywhere near it, and step on powerful toes.

: forget about Trump reading PJB’s column. What’s the last time Trump has, like, informed himself on *any* issue of import?

If the Americans let the deep state bamboozle them into removing Trump, they don't deserve to have not only a democracy, but a country as well. Who in their right mind would believe that Trump is in cahoots with the Russians? Maybe decades of (successful even if poorly constructed) propaganda has lowered the threshold of creativity needed in order for a lie to pass as truth, but this is going beyond the limits of tolerance. Not even a 5th grader would buy into this nonsense. The deep state is damaging the reputation of US in the world by trying to get away with such poorly constructed fabrications. This is an insult to all Americans. The deep state should be forced at least to come up with something more intelligent if they want to accomplish what they are aiming for - removal of Trump.

Not even a 5th grader would buy into this nonsense.

Please Google the McMartin preschool witch hunt to see what people will believe without any believable proof.

Vox Day at his “Vox Popoli” site has drawn attention to a powerful piece on Jerry Pournelle’s “Chaos Manor” site about what James Comey has (allegedly) actually been doing at the FBI and how Trump is (allegedly) very much on the case. Whether or not you are convinced, it is required reading for anyone following this thread. Here’s an excerpt:

If Hillary had won, Comey would have kept right on providing cover for the corruption of the Clinton machine. He would have kept the FBI paralyzed, prevented the Clinton Fund from being investigated, and continued to do his job as the Clinton’s personal scandal eraser at the FBI.
BUT TRUMP WON.
The Swamp and its bottom-dwelling denizens realize they are at risk from this political outsider who is not connected to the uni-party machines. Before Trump takes office, a “failsafe” plan is implemented to ruin Trump’s administration and try to force him out of the Presidency. The key players committed to the plan are the democrat politicians, the RINO establishment, the media, the Obama-Clinton operatives imbedded throughout the intelligence agencies and the entire bureaucracy, and most importantly, the Obama DOJ and JAMES COMEY. The scheme is to smear Trump with Russian “connections,” through a fake FBI “investigation” and more importantly, to trap him into a charge of criminal interference with the FBI. COMEY IS THE CENTRAL FIGURE IN THE SCHEME TO TAKE DOWN TRUMP.

Very interesting, thank you. Much seems to hinge on what could have been seized in Comey's office, but Comey's removal is already good. The "interim" figure also very good. I presume this journalist, Pournelle, has been been reliable in the past?

Forgive me, I sometimes comment on the run. But everything Pournelle said happened before Rosenstein's appointment of the Mueller fellow (Buchanan's prior post), so the countermove would have been precisely that. And I suppose Rosenstein's is now non-removable due to on-going investigation?

Problematic where this makes it sound as if Trump is one of the good guys. Yes he may be an outsider to the party duopoly, but he is very much a member of the corporate ruling class. Everyone paying attention saw the Deep State was on the move well before Trump's inauguration. So why didn't he throw the bums out? Constitutionally, he could even disband the CIA, mobilize the Natnl. Guard, and have them storm Langley if I'm right? If he'd leveled with the American people why this was needed, most would've been behind him I think. As it stands, Americans have an "authoritarian" president who is feared by exactly nobody.

My guess is Trump sees this as a contained affair if he'll be a good neocon going forward--something he's OK with if his clan can continue to enrich themselves. If anyone gets funny ideas, he can hit back over Seth Rich.

Vox Day at his "Vox Popoli" site has drawn attention to a powerful piece on Jerry Pournelle's "Chaos Manor" site about what James Comey has (allegedly) actually been doing at the FBI and how Trump is (allegedly) very much on the case. Whether or not you are convinced, it is required reading for anyone following this thread. Here's an excerpt:

If Hillary had won, Comey would have kept right on providing cover for the corruption of the Clinton machine. He would have kept the FBI paralyzed, prevented the Clinton Fund from being investigated, and continued to do his job as the Clinton’s personal scandal eraser at the FBI.
BUT TRUMP WON.
The Swamp and its bottom-dwelling denizens realize they are at risk from this political outsider who is not connected to the uni-party machines. Before Trump takes office, a “failsafe” plan is implemented to ruin Trump’s administration and try to force him out of the Presidency. The key players committed to the plan are the democrat politicians, the RINO establishment, the media, the Obama-Clinton operatives imbedded throughout the intelligence agencies and the entire bureaucracy, and most importantly, the Obama DOJ and JAMES COMEY. The scheme is to smear Trump with Russian “connections,” through a fake FBI “investigation” and more importantly, to trap him into a charge of criminal interference with the FBI. COMEY IS THE CENTRAL FIGURE IN THE SCHEME TO TAKE DOWN TRUMP.

Very interesting, thank you. Much seems to hinge on what could have been seized in Comey’s office, but Comey’s removal is already good. The “interim” figure also very good. I presume this journalist, Pournelle, has been been reliable in the past?

Vox Day at his "Vox Popoli" site has drawn attention to a powerful piece on Jerry Pournelle's "Chaos Manor" site about what James Comey has (allegedly) actually been doing at the FBI and how Trump is (allegedly) very much on the case. Whether or not you are convinced, it is required reading for anyone following this thread. Here's an excerpt:

If Hillary had won, Comey would have kept right on providing cover for the corruption of the Clinton machine. He would have kept the FBI paralyzed, prevented the Clinton Fund from being investigated, and continued to do his job as the Clinton’s personal scandal eraser at the FBI.
BUT TRUMP WON.
The Swamp and its bottom-dwelling denizens realize they are at risk from this political outsider who is not connected to the uni-party machines. Before Trump takes office, a “failsafe” plan is implemented to ruin Trump’s administration and try to force him out of the Presidency. The key players committed to the plan are the democrat politicians, the RINO establishment, the media, the Obama-Clinton operatives imbedded throughout the intelligence agencies and the entire bureaucracy, and most importantly, the Obama DOJ and JAMES COMEY. The scheme is to smear Trump with Russian “connections,” through a fake FBI “investigation” and more importantly, to trap him into a charge of criminal interference with the FBI. COMEY IS THE CENTRAL FIGURE IN THE SCHEME TO TAKE DOWN TRUMP.

Forgive me, I sometimes comment on the run. But everything Pournelle said happened before Rosenstein’s appointment of the Mueller fellow (Buchanan’s prior post), so the countermove would have been precisely that. And I suppose Rosenstein’s is now non-removable due to on-going investigation?

America has a problem. After 9/11 it decided, rightly or wrongly, that different law enforcement and intelligence agencies had not adequately shared information. It appears to have responded by over-reaction: by abolishing the principle of “need to know”.

The result is that classified information is accessible by hundreds of thousands of Americans, whether or not they have a “need to know”. Among such large numbers there are bound to be a few individuals who do not understand the responsibility that they have been given.

The first major breach of intelligence was the delivery of a huge trove of information by Bradley Manning to Wikileaks, mostly reports written by State Department employees. Yet no lessons were learned, and before long Edward Snowden had leaked far more important secrets of the NSA and CIA to the enemies of the United States.

The Manchester leak, although embarrassing, is small by comparison. However, it does remind us that it is time to take another look at how widely information should be shared among employees of intelligence agencies.

I really am not trying to take over this thread. But the following is very relevant to the matters discussed here. It’s from the Circa.com site and I found it this morning through a link on the very useful Infogalactic News site.

From Circa.com, here are the headline and opening paragraphs of the report:

The National Security Agency under former President Barack Obama routinely violated American privacy protections while scouring through overseas intercepts and failed to disclose the extent of the problems until the final days before Donald Trump was elected president last fall, according to once top-secret documents that chronicle some of the most serious constitutional abuses to date by the U.S. intelligence community.

More than 5 percent, or one out of every 20 searches seeking upstream Internet data on Americans inside the NSA’s so-called Section 702 database violated the safeguards Obama and his intelligence chiefs vowed to follow in 2011, according to one classified internal report reviewed by Circa.

Vox Day at his "Vox Popoli" site has drawn attention to a powerful piece on Jerry Pournelle's "Chaos Manor" site about what James Comey has (allegedly) actually been doing at the FBI and how Trump is (allegedly) very much on the case. Whether or not you are convinced, it is required reading for anyone following this thread. Here's an excerpt:

If Hillary had won, Comey would have kept right on providing cover for the corruption of the Clinton machine. He would have kept the FBI paralyzed, prevented the Clinton Fund from being investigated, and continued to do his job as the Clinton’s personal scandal eraser at the FBI.
BUT TRUMP WON.
The Swamp and its bottom-dwelling denizens realize they are at risk from this political outsider who is not connected to the uni-party machines. Before Trump takes office, a “failsafe” plan is implemented to ruin Trump’s administration and try to force him out of the Presidency. The key players committed to the plan are the democrat politicians, the RINO establishment, the media, the Obama-Clinton operatives imbedded throughout the intelligence agencies and the entire bureaucracy, and most importantly, the Obama DOJ and JAMES COMEY. The scheme is to smear Trump with Russian “connections,” through a fake FBI “investigation” and more importantly, to trap him into a charge of criminal interference with the FBI. COMEY IS THE CENTRAL FIGURE IN THE SCHEME TO TAKE DOWN TRUMP.

Problematic where this makes it sound as if Trump is one of the good guys. Yes he may be an outsider to the party duopoly, but he is very much a member of the corporate ruling class. Everyone paying attention saw the Deep State was on the move well before Trump’s inauguration. So why didn’t he throw the bums out? Constitutionally, he could even disband the CIA, mobilize the Natnl. Guard, and have them storm Langley if I’m right? If he’d leveled with the American people why this was needed, most would’ve been behind him I think. As it stands, Americans have an “authoritarian” president who is feared by exactly nobody.

My guess is Trump sees this as a contained affair if he’ll be a good neocon going forward–something he’s OK with if his clan can continue to enrich themselves. If anyone gets funny ideas, he can hit back over Seth Rich.

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